Comments on Banjo's World: Childhood Abuse Higher Among the Deaf

WOW. I am a student studying social work, and plan...

2012-01-15T19:10:58.626-05:00

WOW. I am a student studying social work, and plan to work with children in the CPS system... investigating abuse or working with children in foster care. I thought this article was really interesting, and will forward it to one of my professors. I wonder if there are more articles of this type? I looked using my university's database and didn't find many.

I can't speak as to families of deaf children ...

2011-01-19T16:19:37.230-05:00

I can't speak as to families of deaf children -- my own was very supportive, despite the fact they chose to raise me orally (according to the "best" advice they had at the time, and my parents were very young and inclined to go with authority figures). But it's quite true that disabled children are frequent targets for abuse outside the home because of the perception that they can't communicate or aren't taken as seriously if they do, or even worse, aren't as closely supervised and/or protected as some other children. I was targeted by an abuser who got into the itinerant tutor program that would send people out to deaf children mainstreamed in public schools. I learned later that that sort of thing was very common.

I do agree with Banjo and Dianrez that we need more information and a larger sample, to trace this issue better.

ABC, I'm not sure why people are immediately p...

2011-01-19T15:56:22.312-05:00

ABC, I'm not sure why people are immediately pinpointing it on communication either even though it can be a factor in some situations. Maybe it's just too easy to pinpoint the blame on communication.

I pointed out that the deaf children of deaf children go through this too as well. Emotional and physical abuse is something I don't take lightly.

This is the problem with these types of studies, there are so few of them out there. They are only conducted in limited numbers. I hope they will be able to expand this study and after that, they can start addressing the abuse.

Regarding the comments... Why do we immediately j...

2011-01-19T15:43:41.762-05:00

Regarding the comments...

Why do we immediately jump to communication issues when any PROBLEM is pointed out. It think the research here is CLEAR that children with Deaf parents (and thus good communication) had no less abuse than children from Hearing parents.

This isn't about communication - it is about ABUSE -- physical, sexual, emotional, etc., etc.

Yes, I've heard the argument that not using Sign with a child is tantamount to abuse, but THATS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT...

Deaf Kids are abused just like Hearing kids!! We need to address the ABUSE, not the communication modality..

another thing to think about is how well the paren...

2011-01-19T14:29:55.421-05:00

another thing to think about is how well the parents listen to their children if they are not the abuser (it could be a teacher or someone), rather they sign or not. Like what happened in the catholic church to the deaf children. They tried to tell, but people kept brushing it off. They are used to how a hearing child handle abuses.

Dianrez, Exactly, which is why I would like to se...

2011-01-19T13:59:49.742-05:00

Dianrez,

Exactly, which is why I would like to see more studies being done because the research available is not sufficient. It doesn't give us definite statistics or any sort of real answers.

I agree with you completely.

A problem with research is small numbers of subjec...

2011-01-19T13:52:31.540-05:00

A problem with research is small numbers of subjects and not enough factors being considered.

For example, what percentage of the homes use sign languages, and what percentage rely on oral methods? Reason: certain methods add to the stress of communication. Not all deaf parents use sign language.

In situations where parents are also deaf, did the parents also have deaf parents? Reason: abuse may or may not be handed down through more than one generation. More detail: were both parents deaf? Oral or culturally deaf? Was communication handled by the parents or by another family member?

Abuse might be interpreted differently by different subjects. Some might consider it to mean only sexual abuse, others might think of physical punishment that happened only once by a nonfamily person as abuse.

Such breakdowns might yield more information, but because of progressively smaller numbers, be suspect.

It would be premature to make recommendations based on this general, aggregate research. However, it opens up avenues for further research and for indepth case study.

I don't think researchers are the one the who ...

2011-01-19T12:59:23.384-05:00

I don't think researchers are the one the who concluded that not using ASL is abused. This research is based on deaf person's emotional well being. It depends how he feels. If a deaf person felt very neglected by his hearing parents because they don't use sign language, chances are that he struggled communicating with his family, you know, kind feel empty.

If the parents intentionally limit the communicati...

2011-01-19T12:33:05.991-05:00

If the parents intentionally limit the communication between themselves and the child, then yes that would be considered abuse.

If the parents and the child are able to communicate effectively, then it's not abuse.

In most cases, ignorance is more likely a factor which would lead to neglect or abuse.

Excellent article with attention being magnified a...

2011-01-19T12:25:24.766-05:00

Excellent article with attention being magnified at the parents. I question if the research has concluded that not using ASL between the hearing parents and deaf child is being child abuse?

You make a good point. It makes sense that deaf st...

2011-01-19T12:24:59.111-05:00

You make a good point. It makes sense that deaf students who are more active in their communities are less likely to be abused or depressed.

I will add this part to my blog entry. Thanks. :)

btw, I was replying to this, which you or the arti...

2011-01-19T12:18:59.112-05:00

btw, I was replying to this, which you or the article lefted out:

"For example, our research shows that individuals who are active members of the deaf community report fewer depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms," Schenkel adds

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-abuse-higher-deaf-hard-of-hearing-children.html

This is why I support bi-bi. It's important we...

2011-01-19T12:15:51.332-05:00

This is why I support bi-bi. It's important we share the language. If the family are abusers, who can you talk to if very few people outside of your family know ASL, SEE, CUED SPEECH, etc. If you are a struggling oral-only with limited vocabulary and expressive thoughts, it's even harder. Deaf people are able to relate instead of saying "I'm sorry" that you hear from hearing people.